CDR Robert TarantinoInterview Length: 1:01:33CDR Tarantino has extensive experience as an operator in the USCG. His orders were to “taketactical control of the Coast Guard units on scene and facilitate evacuation from New Orleans.”

Spencer

provided not only command and control, but logistical support as well for 22 USCG units.Ship moored in the vicinity of the River Walk. The city was generally dark and quiet at night with theexception of some occasional gunfire. The ship also engaged in some barter, fixing AC units inexchange for water from a barge.

Spencer

was involved in moving approximately 6,000 peoplefrom St. Bernard’s Parish to Algiers.

Spencer

did send armed LE detachments ashore forcoordination. The ship still needed to be adequately manned in order to move her and to fightfires.

Spencer

also interacted with the nearby USS

Tortuga

.Quote: “The guys who were the first on the scene did some phenomenal stuff.”

Commander Sir, if you could give your name and spell your last name please.

CDR Tarantino:

Sure. It’s Rob Tarantino; T-A-R-A-N-T-I-N-O.

Q:

Okay, and you are the . . . ?

CDR Tarantino:

Commanding Officer of Coast Guard Spencer.

Q:

And could you give me sort of a paragraph on your career to this point; are you Academy,OCS? How did you get to this point in the Coast Guard?

CDR Tarantino:

I graduated from the Academy in 1987 and all of my tours thus far have beeneither operational on cutters or operational staff supporting cutters. I was on cutter Acushnet out ofGulfport, Mississippi; followed by XO of cutter Chincoteague out of Mobile, Alabama; PAC AreaOperations Center duty; followed by CO of Long Island out of Monterey, California; followed byPAC Area Operational Forces Cutter Management Section; followed by, I had a one year tour asoperational analysis for PAC Area and then XO of cutter Seneca; followed by District OneOperational Planning and Readiness; followed by cutter Spencer.

Q:

So are you from the West Coast originally?

CDR Tarantino:

No, I grew up in Connecticut.

Q:

Oh, okay. So you finally got back after they . . . . [chuckle]?

CDR Tarantino:

After, yes, four years on the Gulf Coast, eight years in California and now I’m

I noticed reports that you had been up the pass into New Orleans before. When did you dothat?

CDR Tarantino:

In 1990 I was XO of

Chincoteague

and we had been in New Orleans severaltimes before usually going up MRGO, which is Mississippi River Gulf Outlet or working our way upto Bollinger Shipyard. But in 1990 we went to Mardi Gras as one of the Coast Guard visiting shipsand we decided to go up Southwest Pass, so we went up Southwest Pass in 1990.

Q:

And this time I would guess that things looked a little bit different when you came upriver?

CDR Tarantino:

Well it was very different. In fact one of the biggest . . . there were two realsignificant changes. One was when I went up in February - it’s after the rains - and there’s about afive knot current and I expected a five knot current coming down the Mississippi River, which wouldhave some navigational challenges. A 270 doesn’t handle very well in the current.

Q:

Why is that?

CDR Tarantino:

Certainly going into them we’re fine and actually going down current we’re okay,but if we had to turn or something and then trying to bring this bow through a five-knot current isvery tricky. It doesn’t do it very well.

Q:

Was that complicated also; I would imagine you really didn’t have a lot of visibility, and whatwas in the river at this point?

CDR Tarantino:

You know we expected a lot of debris. We saw some. We were more concernedabout what we couldn’t see in the river than what we could see.

Q:

Do you have sonar or a depth sounder?

CDR Tarantino:

We do have typical depth sounders but you know in the river with all thesediment in the river . . .

Q:

It wouldn’t have made a lot of difference anyway?

CDR Tarantino:

. . . they don’t do very well, and at that point if it’s underneath you . . .

Q:

It’s too late.

CDR Tarantino:

. . . it’s already too late. The other difference was that there was nobody else onthe river. I mean there were a couple of small tugs but the first time I was up the river you had all thenormal commercial traffic and this time there was no commercial traffic. It was us and a couple ofsmall tugs that we saw. And then of course the almost complete lack of navigational aids.